COPPERWhat is the national dish of Micronesia?
The Federated States of Micronesia has no official national dish, and each of its four states, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae, has its own food traditions. What they share is a staple of breadfruit and taro pounded while hot, best known abroad through kón, Chuuk's boiled breadfruit beaten on a wooden board until smooth and elastic, sometimes finished with coconut cream.
Why Micronesia has no single national dish
The Federated States of Micronesia is four states spread across the western Pacific, each represented by a star on the flag. Each has its own culture and traditions, and the food changes from one to the next. Taro is the food that marks a good provider in Kosrae and the outer islands, while on Pohnpei that role goes to yams.
Students at the College of Micronesia in Pohnpei, presenting traditional dishes from their home islands, showed how wide the range is:
- Chuuk: kón, breadfruit pounded hot, plain or with coconut milk.
- Pohnpei: breadfruit grilled on an open fire and pounded on a stone, and rotama, taro cooked in an umw (hot rock oven) and pounded.
- Kosrae: soup usr, a soup of boiled banana and fish.
- Yap: tiogang, ground tapioca coloured with turmeric, sometimes with banana or coconut milk in the centre.
What is kón?
Kón is breadfruit that has been boiled, then pounded while still burning hot until it turns creamy and elastic. In Chuuk it comes in three forms: plain kón, mwatun made with coconut milk, and emesefich, which also uses coconut milk and is reserved for chiefs.
The tools are specific: a board of breadfruit wood called a niif and a coral pounder called a pwó. In the lagoon islands men pound; in Chuuk's outer islands it is usually women. On Pohnpei, where breadfruit is pounded on a stone with a pounder of Morinda citrifolia wood, the work takes two people: one pounds while the other wipes the sweat from the pounder. When first fruits are presented to chiefs, they are presented as kón, not as raw breadfruit.
Kón also carries a message. Families settling a wrong send kón to each other, covered with a taro leaf whose surface sheds water; that leaf means the apology is accepted, while a rough leaf means it is not.
How pounded breadfruit is made
Our pounded breadfruit recipe uses two mature breadfruit that are still firm and green-skinned. Over-ripe fruit turns to slush under the pounder.
- Boil the breadfruit whole for 45 to 60 minutes, until a stick slides through.
- Peel and core it while it is burning hot, holding it with leaves or a cloth.
- Pound it on the board for 15 to 20 minutes, folding the mass over on itself. A blender tears the starch instead of stretching it.
- Shape fist-sized balls and serve them plain with fish, or pour 250 ml of fresh coconut cream over them for mwatun.
Kelaguen and tinola: dishes that arrived from elsewhere
Two dishes common on Micronesian tables came from neighbours. Kelaguen is a Chamorro dish from the Mariana Islands, derived from the Filipino kilawin. Our chicken kelaguen starts with thighs grilled over charcoal for about 25 minutes, chopped fine with a knife, then cured in 180 ml of lemon juice with fresh grated coconut, hot peppers and onions. It is served with titiyas, a flatbread, or red rice. Guam claims it too: see the national dish of Guam.
Tinola is a chicken and ginger soup from the Philippines, eaten with rice, and with breadfruit on some islands. Our tinola fries the ginger, garlic and onion first, browns the chicken, lets the fish sauce hit the hot pan, then adds water, green papaya and chilli leaves.
Other dishes to know from Micronesia
Breadfruit baked in the umw, mahi umw, is one of the oldest traditional foods on Pohnpei; at a traditional feast the number of pieces served must be odd, three, five or seven. On Pohnpei, koapnoair koakihr is ground boiled yam with coconut milk, and uht sukusuk, boiled mashed bananas covered in coconut milk, is a crowd favourite. Kosrae's "all-star" soup combines reef fish, crab and lobster in a rice and coconut milk base, and ap is made there from ground, steamed bananas.
Taro gets the same treatment as breadfruit. Hard taro is ground, cooked and rolled into balls with coconut; the dish is known across the islands as uter on Pohnpei, kuhlamihs on Kosrae, puna in Chuuk and yewagil on Woleai. Breadfruit is also preserved: in the outer islands of Yap it is fermented and wrapped in ti leaf.
You will find all our Micronesian recipes on our page about the food of Micronesia, the wider picture in our guide to Pacific Island food, and a neighbouring kitchen in our article on the national dish of Palau.
The recipes
- Boka🇫🇲 Micronesia · 1 hour and 20 minutes
Kelaguen🇫🇲 Micronesia · 1 hour and 40 minutes
Tinola🇫🇲 Micronesia · 55 minutes
Questions people ask
Does Micronesia have a national dish?
No. The Federated States of Micronesia has no official national dish, and its four states each have their own food. Pounded breadfruit and taro are the staples they share.
What is kón made of?
Only breadfruit, boiled and pounded hot. Mwatun is the same pounded breadfruit served with coconut milk.
Is kelaguen from Micronesia?
Kelaguen is a Chamorro dish from the Mariana Islands, which include Guam. It is eaten across the region, including in the Federated States of Micronesia.
Why must breadfruit be pounded hot?
Kón only works with hot flesh: pounded straight from the pot, breadfruit stretches into a smooth, elastic mass. That is why it is peeled while burning hot, handled with leaves or a cloth.
What is the difference between Micronesia and the Federated States of Micronesia?
Micronesia is a region of the western Pacific that also includes Palau, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and Guam. The Federated States of Micronesia is one country within it, made of Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae.
Keep reading
- Traditional food of Micronesia: 14 dishes to know
- What is the national dish of Fiji?
- What is the national dish of Kiribati?
- What is the national dish of the Marshall Islands?
- What is the national dish of Nauru?
- What is the national dish of New Zealand?